Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, Wales and England, is a constituent part of the United Kingdom. Following the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1707, each Parliament was dissolved and a new Parliament of the United Kingdom was established in London at Westminster.

Throughout the following two centuries, many sections of Scottish society actively campaigned against the Union with the most recent surges in Scottish nationalism taking place in the 1970s and again in the 1990s. A referendum to create a Scottish Assembly was held in 1979 and, although a majority of Scots voted for the Assembly,  Westminster contrived to ignore the result. However, in 1997, the incoming Labour administration in London held another referendum for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament with tax-raising powers, a proposition which was overwhemlingly endorsed by the Scottish electorate and, on 6th May 1999, the first election to the new
Parliament was held.

On July 1st 1999, the Parliament was opened by the Queen. Winnie Ewing, a stalwart of the nationalist campaign of the 70s and the oldest member of the Parliament, reconvened the Parliament following its adjournment on 25 March 1707.

The Parliament's competencies are not specifically defined within the Scotland Act 1999; instead, the Act lists what areas are "reserved" to Westminster and thus the Scottish Parliament can legislate in any other area. Key reserved areas include foreign affairs, defence, the macro-economy, broadcasting, social security and outer space !! Thus the Parliament deals with areas such as local government, roads, housing, health, the arts, police, criminal justice and education. It has minor (+/- 3p in the pound) powers to vary income tax and most finance comes through a block grant from Westminster.

The Executive is led by the First Minister. Donald Dewar, the first First Minister died in office in 2000 and was succeeded for a short period by Henry McLeish who resigned in November 2001 over a financial scandal. He was followed by Jack McConnell who held the post for over 5 years before he led the Labour Party to electoral defeat in May 2007. The fourth First Minister is Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party.